Reports: How was life different the last time Texas Tech football secured a conference championship?
It’s been quite a while since Texas Tech won a conference championship in football. Here’s what life looked like the last time it happened.
The goal of every team in any sport is to win a championship of some kind. College sports are unique because they allow multiple teams to call themselves champions simply by winning a conference title.
For some programs, winning the league is just a stepping stone toward a greater goal. But for programs like Texas Tech, capturing a conference crown is something to be celebrated, as this program hasn’t managed to accomplish that feat very often.
In nearly 100 years of football, Tech has won just 11 conference titles. However, nine of those titles came in the defunct Border Conference when Tech competed with teams like Arizona, Arizona State, UTEP, West Texas A&M, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, and Hardin Simmons. Winning that league wasn’t a major accomplishment.
In 1957, Texas Tech left the Border Conference to join the Southwest Conference, stepping up in competition. As a result, league titles became rare in Lubbock. Tech never won the SWC outright, though the Red Raiders were co-champions in 1976 and 1994.
Thus, this year marks the 30-year anniversary of Tech’s last conference title. The closest the Red Raiders have come to winning the Big 12 was in 2008 when they finished in a three-way tie with Oklahoma and Texas for the South Division title. Let’s reminisce about life in 1994, when the Red Raiders last won a conference championship.
Texas Tech’s 1994 Team and the Cotton Bowl
The 1994 SWC season was strange. The team with the best conference record, Texas A&M (6-0-1), was on probation and ineligible for the conference crown. Five schools (Tech, Texas, TCU, Rice, and Baylor) finished with 4-3 records in league play, creating a five-way tie for the SWC Championship. Without a conference title game, the Cotton Bowl berth went to Texas Tech, which hadn’t played in the event since 1938.
The Red Raiders finished the regular season 6-5, partly due to a tough non-conference schedule against No. 1 Nebraska and No. 21 Oklahoma. In the 1995 Cotton Bowl, Tech faced No. 21 USC, featuring star wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson. The game ended in a 55-14 defeat, with the most memorable moment being the tortilla-covered field during the opening kickoff.
What Was Life Like in 1994?
In 1994, during the second year of Bill Clinton’s presidency, the internet was becoming more common with the “dot-com” bubble inflating the economy. Prices of goods were low compared to today: a dozen eggs cost 0.86,𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓−𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑠1.44, and a gallon of gas was $1.11.
In sports, the biggest story was figure skater Nancy Kerrigan’s attack at the U.S. Olympic Trials, orchestrated by rival Tonya Harding. The FIFA World Cup was held in the U.S. for the first time, with Brazil winning the title. The largest story was former NFL star O.J. Simpson’s arrest for murder and his televised low-speed chase in a white Ford Bronco. The 1994 baseball strike also made headlines, canceling the World Series.
Outside sports, Netscape introduced the first commercially successful internet browser, “Navigator.” Sony launched the PlayStation, revolutionizing the video game industry. Popular movies included “The Lion King,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Forrest Gump,” and “Pulp Fiction.” The sitcom “Friends” debuted, and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain’s suicide rocked the music world. “Woodstock 1994” tried to replicate the 1969 festival.
Convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered in prison. Amazon, now the largest company in the world, was founded. In South Africa, the first-ever free elections allowed people of all races to vote.
As you can see, 1994 was a fascinating year, culminating with a Texas Tech football conference title. Here’s hoping history repeats itself this fall for the Red Raiders.